The DoctorDonna
by x-Avarice-x
Summary: She was never supposed to wake up.
1. Prologue

Hooray, another Doctor Who story!

This is the first time I've written anything for the 11th Doctor, though I prefer to write for the 10th. 11 seems to be slightly easier to write for, with all of his tawdry quirks. I'm honestly unsure when this should be set, so I'm going to say after the end of season 5 to be safe.

This story has two different endings, since I couldn't decide which one I liked more. Pick your favorite!

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Doctor Who or anything affiliated with it, even though the Master is definitely waiting for me in an alternate universe somewhere. Time Lord babies, hooray!

**Prologue:**

The universe shuddered. He felt it.

The Doctor was frozen in place, next to the TARDIS's console. Amy waved her hand in his face. "Oi, Doctor? Fallen asleep, have you?"

"Just as long as it's not like last time. In the middle of a planetary invasion, honestly. The man's got narcolepsy," Rory scoffed, walking over to them both from across the control room.

"You're going-" the Doctor began, then stopped and started over again. "No, you can't go home, that's-" He suddenly began pacing. Almost... frantic pacing, and he was talking to himself more than anyone. He could feel it. Just a tiny prick at the back of his mind, but it was there. The presence of something not quite Time Lord, but not quite human.

"Doctor, what is it?" Amy was suddenly on guard. "Why are you taking us home?"

"I'm not, I won't, but..." He continued to pace around, hands all through his hair and over his face. "I'm not ready for this, I can't-"

"Doctor," Amy ran around in front of him to stop his pacing. "What's wrong?" Her eyes were wide, as they always were when she was both concerned and scared.

"She's awake," he answered. "She's awake and she's in pain and I can't save her, I can't-"

"Who, Doctor?" Rory approached the Time Lord cautiously. "Who's awake?"

"Donna," he said finally, dropping his hands from his face and hair. "Donna is awake."


	2. Chapter 1

Chugging right along... These first couple are really short. Oops.

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Doctor Who or anything affiliated with it, even though the Master is definitely waiting for me in an alternate universe somewhere. He's probably really good in bed too.

**Chapter 1:**

"Donna? Who's Donna?" Rory's voice betrayed his confusion.

"Donna is... Donna. My best friend, my best... But what could have woken her up?" The Doctor was pacing again and it was beginning to irritate Amy.

"Best friend?" Rory questioned, eyebrow raised. "She traveled with you too, then?"

"Yes, yes she did, she... Something happened and I had to erase her memory, or she would die. Human-Time Lord metacrisis, but I couldn't just let her die, I didn't want her to die..." Rory and Amy were watching him with interested, but concerned looks. "And now something's made her remember."

"Well you gotta go save her, c'mon, let's go!" Amy grabbed his arm encouragingly, but he took it back immediately.

"I can't, Amy. I can't save her, no one can."

_If she remembers, her mind will burn and she will die._

"Well you've gotta try!" she said.

"Or at least be there for her when she dies," Rory added.

The Doctor looked from one companion to the other, then paced a bit more. What could he possibly do for her? He had given her what he could, considering the circumstances and he had missed her since the moment she had gone. Donna, the one who always yelled and who had healed him so much. The one who had given him a reason to be happy, to no longer be alone after Martha had gone. His best friend... He stopped in his tracks, then looked to Amy and Rory, with their concerned but hopeful faces.

"Yes, alright, you both have a point, let's go."


	3. Chapter 2

This chapter is a bit longer, yay!

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Doctor Who or anything affiliated with it, even though the Master is definitely waiting for me in an alternate universe somewhere. I wonder how many kids he wants us to have?

**Chapter 2:**

Donna Noble was screaming.

The lottery money she had amazingly come to possess had bought her a house. A mansion, really. They had huge TVs, furniture, a grand staircase, the best computers money could buy, dozens of rooms for anything you could imagine, a nursery should the chance to use it ever arise, a swimming pool that they never used, and an exercise room that had fewer visitors than the swimming pool.

And she was still unhappy. Unhappy and lonely, to be more accurate. She spent her days in luxury, waiting and wondering. She felt as though she was missing someone, something, but she couldn't remember what it was for the life of her. Everywhere she was, she didn't want to be, and every time she got somewhere she thought she wanted to be, she never wanted to stay. Shaun often found her walking aimlessly outside in the garden, no matter what the time of day, as if she was waiting for something. He was afraid for his wife, but she wouldn't see a doctor. She claimed to have always hated doctors. Wilf always laughed when she said this, but she never understood why and he refused to explain.

Shaun and Wilf were playing cards across the house when they heard her. She had just come home from picking up quite a lot of groceries. The jug of milk was all over the tile floor, along with eggs and her mum's favorite kind of coffee. Shaun quite literally had catapulted himself out of his chair as soon as he heard Donna's scream of pain. Wilf was considerably slower, but he made it just the same.

"My head!" Donna had both hands in her hair, leaning against the kitchen counter as if her skull was splitting.

"Donna, what's wrong?" Shaun was at her side, trying to calm her, but it wasn't working.

Wilf reached them a moment later. He reached for Donna's hand to comfort her. "Donna! What were you doing? You can't remember, my love, you can't! Forget! Forget everything!"

"Remember what?" Shaun demanded, flinching from the harsh noise of her screams.

"There was this man," she managed to gasp. "A man I've never seen before in my life, but-" She almost collapsed to the floor, but Shaun managed to catch her and guided her to the couch in the living room just off the kitchen. "He was tall, with dark hair and he was talking to someone, a... woman with dark skin. I overheard them talking about... something to do with a thing called a... TARDIS." Her voice was soft with recognition.

"Forget it, Donna! It's nothing," Wilf patted her hand comfortingly. "Don't you worry about a thing, my dear. Let's get you a nice cup of tea, come on!"

"No!" She stood from the couch and barely took two steps before another wave of pain hit her and she screamed again. "I remember!" she yelled defiantly, still holding her head. "I remember! TARDIS, Slitheen, Vashta Nerada, The Master, Raxacoricofallapatorius, Dalek, Agatha Christie, Cybermen, GallifreyRoseTheRaniK9RomanaE-SpaceDavros." She gasped, but the words wouldn't stop. "Foamasi, Argolins, Susan Foreman, Adric, Marco Polo, Harold Saxon, Five Point Star, Time Lord, Time Lord, Time Lord, Time-"

She froze. She heard it, outside in the garden. The sound of the universe.

"Doctor." Her voice was soft, then louder than she had ever screamed before. "DOCTOR!"


	4. Chapter 3

After this chapter is where you choose the ending you enjoy the most. I like them both, personally. I couldn't just pick one, Donna's far too fantastic.

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Doctor Who or anything affiliated with it, even though the Master is definitely waiting for me in an alternate universe somewhere. If the kids are half Time Lord, do they get half the number of regenerations? I hope not.

**Chapter 3****:**

The TARDIS materialized in the garden of the Temple-Noble estate. The Doctor rushed out, quickly followed by Amy and Rory.

"DOCTOR!"

The Doctor flinched as if someone had been swinging a metal chair at him, but he recovered quickly. "Okay, so. She can still shout rain out of the clouds." Mental note. He looked about for exactly which way they should go. "This way!" Rory and Amy followed, the latter a bit excited about this meeting, even though she realized it wasn't going to be a happy one.

Normal etiquette would dictate knocking on the door, but he didn't exactly have time for that. The Doctor sonic'd it open and burst into the foyer. "A bit posh, isn't it?" Rory questioned, looking around.

"That'd be my fault," the Doctor said, rushing off in the direction of Donna's screams of pain.

"What did you do, win her the lottery?" Amy questioned, following the Doctor and practically dragging Rory behind.

"Well, as a matter of fact, that's almost exactly what happened."

"We better get something like that when we leave!" Rory piped up. The Doctor looked over his shoulder with an exasperated glare.

"What do you mean 'when'?" Amy said angrily.

"Nevermind that now!" The Doctor threw open the swinging door to the kitchen and spotted Donna, Shaun, and Wilf in the next room. "Donna!"

"Who's that?" Donna yelled, not recognizing the voice she was hearing.

"Donna!" He ran into the room, "Donna, look, it's me! It's the Doctor! The Racnoss, remember the Racnoss?" Amy and Rory followed, but stood back, watching.

She finally opened her eyes and looked him over, "What the... First you're a stick and now you're all... lanky like a teenager?"

"What's that supposed to mean?" he asked indignantly.

"Your arms are twice as long as the rest of you! And a bow tie, really?"

"Not the time for insults, Donna!" He put his hands on her shoulders to steady her. "Don't you remember what happened?"

"I don't-" She began screaming again mid-sentence. The Doctor gently put a hand to her face, then took it away just as quickly. Her mind was the equivalent of scrambled eggs. "You regenerated," she said finally, gritting her teeth.

"I did."

"Doctor, is it really you?" Wilf stood from his place on the sofa.

"Of course it's me! And I'd still be honored to have you as my father," he said, pointing at the man, as if to illustrate what he'd just said.

"It is you!" Wilf's disbelieving tone changed into one of recognition. "What can you do for her, Doctor?"

"I can make her forget again, but it may not even work this time, her mind may be too far gone." Amy was hugging Rory's arm protectively in the background, as if he was the one that all of this was happening to. She couldn't help but notice that Donna reminded her a lot of... well, herself. Something in the back of her mind said that that should bother her.

"Donna, Donna, my love," Wilf tried to get her attention. "He saved my life Donna, that's why he regenerated! And that winning lottery ticket, that was from him!"

"What?" Donna's hair was in a million directions and the looked at him in confusion. The pain was getting stronger, the bursts of agony more frequent.

"Well I couldn't just leave you without giving you a wedding present!" he said, almost embarrassed. A thought occurred to him and he pulled out the sonic screwdriver, but it didn't tell him anything that he didn't already know.

"It hurts, Doctor," she said, tears running down her face.

"I'm sorry Donna," he hugged her for what would be the last time.

"Please don't make me forget again," she sobbed, the tears making her head pound even harder.

"I have to, you'll die otherwise, and in a minute if I don't," he said. She started screaming in pain again.

Shaun had been sitting on the sofa this entire exchange, not sure what to make of these three intruders. Even more confusing was the fact that Donna and Wilf seemed to know the odd one. He suddenly stood from his seat, "Doctor, please save her." The Doctor turned his gaze to the husband of Donna Noble. "I don't know who you are, but Wilf and Donna seem to know you. She's my wife and I love her, please don't let her die."

"Shaun?" Donna turned around to face him. "I don't want to forget again, I don't!"

"I have an idea," the Doctor said suddenly. Something had just occurred to him. It was an absolutely ridiculous idea, to be sure. Time Lords could grant other Time Lords regenerations. Donna wasn't exactly Time Lord, but even so...

"Donna! Donna, listen to me!" She turned around to face him once more and his put his hands back on her shoulders. Her brain was boiling, synapses overrun with information, brain matter overheating to the point of bursting.

But her mind was the mind of a Time Lord.

He moved his hands to her face once more, then rested his forehead against hers. Every second she was getting worse. He wasn't even sure how to do this, but it had to work. It was Donna for God's sake.

A sudden noise of encouragement came from Amy, who watched as both the Doctor and Donna began to glow golden. The glow became brighter and brighter and flowed from one to the other. He gave her the equivalent of one regeneration, feeling the vitality drain from his body, then jumped back quickly. But she was still screaming and Wilf and Shaun were still standing, trying to comfort her.

"Doctor, what's wrong?" Amy asked, while Rory felt like a rather useless nurse.

"It's not working, she's not..." He paced frantically, two steps from where Donna was dying, tossing the sonic screwdriver back and forth between his hands over and over again. "It's just energy plus her mind, there's no... catalyst!"

He crossed to Donna in one huge step and kissed her. Shaun didn't look very happy about it, but he was visibly relieved when the Doctor jumped back. "Genetic transfer!" he said triumphantly. Donna was glowing brighter now. "Whoops, get back, all of you!" He ran to the right to stand between Donna and his two current companions. Wilf and Shaun followed suit.

"Doctor?" Donna's mind slowly began to calm.

"Yes?"

"Will I look different?"

He paused. "I don't know, this has never been done before. Since your physical body technically has no Time Lord DNA besides the genetic transfer, I would say no, it's just going to fix your brain. But then again, the DNA plus the mind and the energy could, in theory-"

"Alright, alright," she interrupted, watching her hands as they glowed, the energy moving like waves. "Stand back!"

The Doctor watched in interest and worry. It had been quite some time since he had seen another Time Lord regenerate.


	5. Ending 1

Here is ending #1! If you can figure out the reason for the number 215, I'll love you forever. No hints though!

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Doctor Who or anything affiliated with it, even though the Master is definitely waiting for me in an alternate universe somewhere. I hope our children are as demented as their father.

**Ending 1****:**

She screamed, but it was a different kind of scream. The golden energy spread in every direction, quite destroying their living room. Everyone but the Doctor was watching with their mouths agape in amazement.

The light finally disappeared and Donna Noble stumbled back a bit. She looked the same, much to Shaun's relief. Everyone was silent. The Doctor spoke first. "Donna?"

She looked at him blankly for a second, as if she was trying to register who he was. Her face changed after a moment, and she looked like she was going to deck him in the jaw.

"You stupid, bloody... MARTIAN!"

"Donna, how many times to I have to tell you, I'm not from-"

"You couldn't have just done that in the first place?"

"I didn't even think of it until two minutes ago! Nevermind that I didn't think it would work!"

"Time Lords!" she scoffed, throwing her hands up in the air. "Wave a disappearing time machine in their faces and they can pilot a six person one by themselves, but ask for a little creativity and nope!"

"Oh shut up!" He said, hugging her. She hugged him back for quite a long time and refused to let go. "Donna..." he said, a bit sheepishly. Wilf and Shaun were looking on with visible relief.

"I said I was gonna be with you forever."

"Yes, you did."

She let go of him finally, and noticed Rory and Amy standing behind him. "I don't suppose those two are yours, Doctor?"

"I hope you aren't asking if they're my children-"

She gave him one of her classic Donna-esque glares. He had missed them.

"Ah, right. Uh, so, Donna, this is Mr. and Mrs. Pond. Amy and Rory." Donna greeted them both, then seemed to suddenly register the presence of her husband and grandfather. She hugged them both with gusto, grinning like mad. "I'm fine, see!" Wilf was also smiling like mad, but Shaun wasn't.

"What are you?" he asked, almost fearful of his own wife. This didn't make any sense.

"I'm... well I 'spose I'm part Time Lord now, aren't I spaceman?" She looked at the Doctor for confirmation.

"Technically your brain is, yes," he thought aloud. "Your brain is changed, conformed around the information that was there before you regenerated. It can handle it all now without overloading and killing you. Time Lord regenerative energy plus a spark of Time Lord DNA all mixed in with the rest of you."

"And I'm brilliant!" she sang happily.

"Yes you are!" The Doctor hugged her again. "Thing is, Donna," he said, holding her at arms length now. "I don't know what's going to happen to you from now on. I only gave you the one regeneration-"

"You have a limit, I know. I wouldn't ask for that ever again," she said firmly. "But you saved my life. Again. Thank you." She paused, her gaze turning to one of smugness. "And now, I know everything you ever thought. This should be fun!"

"Now don't you go using things against me now-"

"Can I come with you?" she asked, looking at him with both hope and determination.

"Donna Noble," he answered immediately. "What in the whole of creation is that kind of question? I mean really, what the _heck_ is that? You insult me."

"Don't I do that anyway?"

"You do, but that's not the point-"

"Please don't go." Donna looked to Shaun, who was now standing right next to her and looking at her as if he'd never seen her before. "I don't understand any of this," he said, gesturing to the Doctor. "Who is he?"

"He's a Time Lord," she answered. "An alien, from a planet very far away."

"An alien?" he stammered, stepping back a few feet. There had been plenty of aliens in recent years, but they'd all been bad, not helpful. "But he looks human!"

"No, you look Time Lord," the Doctor said, not for the first time.

"They came first," Amy added helpfully, from behind him. The Doctor gave her a smile. Rory was still rather confused about the regeneration thing, but he was watching the exchange between Donna and Shaun closely. He remembered feeling just as Shaun did now, watching the woman he loved choose someone else. It wasn't the same thing, of course, but Shaun didn't know that.

"But I don't... Donna, are you really going with him?"

She smiled sadly at her husband, taking his hand. "I can't stay here anymore. All the things in this head of mine could change the world. There's no way I could sit around on this little planet and stay quiet."

"You could come with us!" The Doctor said encouragingly. "That'll be one crowded TARDIS," he added, half to himself.

"Two married couples though!" Donna paused, turning her gaze to him. "There are 215 rooms in the TARDIS, what do you mean crowded?"

"Crowded control room," he corrected.

"Oh that is the stupidest reason for 215 rooms anywhere that I've ever heard."

"What!" he said indignantly. "It is not! Though I'm not even sure if I like those anymore."

"It is definitely the stupidest," she affirmed.

"This is going to take some getting used to," he said aloud. "You know everything up until I wiped your mind, all ten regenerations of me."

"Yeah, and you're_ not_ doing that again, by the way," she said.

A throat was cleared. "I can't."

Donna looked to Shaun, who had just spoken. "Why not?"

"Because aliens are dangerous, Donna!" His eyes said that he was afraid, for both her and himself.

"Not this one," Wilf said, almost laughing at Shaun, as if he couldn't possibly understand why anyone would ever call the Doctor dangerous. "He saved Donna's life, you should be thanking him!"

"I'm not ungrateful, but-"

"Shaun." Donna faced him and he watched her with slight discomfort. "Before I met you, I was the Doctor's traveling companion. I've been to so many places, so many beautiful places, you couldn't even imagine it. But the Doctor had to erase my memory or I would die, and I had to leave even though that was the last thing I ever wanted to do. But I'm fixed now. I'm okay," she said with a smile. "If you'd seen everything I've seen, all the amazing planets and galaxies and aliens, you wouldn't stay here."

He shook his head angrily, "But I'm your husband!"

"That's why I want you to come with us! Just because I want to go doesn't mean I don't love you," she added indignantly. "Don't ever think that. It isn't a romantic escape, not at all. You and I can see the universe together!"

"So am I supposed to just sit here and wait for you to get back?" he asked, ignoring half of what she said.

"If you like," she said quietly. "You don't have to, but I wish you'd come with us." He shook his head. Donna nodded sadly. "I understand."

"I'd come with," Wilf piped up, "if I was about thirty years younger!" Donna laughed and they hugged goodbye. "You come back and visit now, all four of you."

"Of course, Gramps. I promise we will, I swear. Tell Mum I love her and I'll be back!" Donna hugged Shaun and gave him a proper kiss goodbye.

"I know you'll be back, sweetheart. You go out there and be amazing!" He hugged her once more, then hugged the Doctor. "You keep her safe now."

"Of course," the Doctor answered, returning his affections. "Besides, we have Amy and Rory to help me keep an eye on her!"

"What? Are we babysitters now?" Rory asked, confused and slightly annoyed.

"Of course not, does she look like a baby to you?" The Doctor asked him, and Rory couldn't tell if he was being serious or not. "Time to go now!"

"To the TARDIS!" Donna sang happily, giving her family one last hug goodbye. Shaun tried to hold onto her hand, but she let go and waved as they walked out the kitchen door.

Amy was talking excitedly to Donna about anything and everything she could think of, and Rory was following along, not saying a word. Not able to get one in edgewise, of course. Amy was becoming more alert to the similarities between herself and Donna; she would have to ask the Doctor about that later.

They walked out to the garden and Donna's face split into a grin. "There she is!" She paused. "It's brighter, you changed it."

"Type 40 TARDIS now," he answered. "New desktop theme and all."

"Oooh, interesting, let's go have a look see!"

"Hold on, Amy, Rory, you go in first." The Doctor unlocked the TARDIS's door and let them both in. "Be in in a minute."

"Fair enough, come on Rory!" She grabbed her husband's hand and they disappeared into the big blue box.

The Doctor turned to Donna, who was taking one last look at her house. "Are you sure you want to come with us?"

"Of course I do! What kind of a question is that? If you get to ask annoying questions, then I get to too, so what is up with your voice?"

He ignored the latter question. "You know what I mean. You're married now and... stuff."

"Don't worry about Shaun, he'll grow to accept it in time." She didn't want to admit the fact that she didn't want to leave him behind. She loved him, Time Lord brain or not. Even so, it was one human or the whole universe. Who could possibly choose otherwise? "Just one more question, though." He raised an eyebrow. "How did you know I was remembering everything?"

He smiled, "The lottery ticket I gave you had nanogenes all over the place. They aren't advanced enough to heal Time Lords, lacking the entire genetic code and all, but they work well for humans. They attach themselves to anything they touch, but there were just enough nanogenes for you and Wilf. They can measure anything from blood pressure to erratic brainwaves. Sent an alert to the TARDIS and she relayed the message."

"You just think you're so clever," she said with a grin, holding out her arm. "Shall we go then?"

He took it with a very Doctor-ish grin. "The DoctorDonna then, is it?"

Her grin got wider. "The DoctorDonna! Ha!"

They stepped into the TARDIS and the sound of the universe echoed behind them as the spaceship faded away.


	6. Ending 2

And here is ending #2! This ending is kinda short, but I like it all the same.

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Doctor Who or anything affiliated with it, even though the Master is definitely waiting for me in an alternate universe somewhere. Now it's just a question of getting one of us to the other universe. Anyone got a TARDIS?

**Ending 2****:**

The light faded away and Donna Noble collapsed onto the floor. The Doctor was frozen in place. Wilf and Shaun were staring, but the latter quickly knelt beside his wife to make sure she was still alive.

The Doctor was staring at Donna with disbelief and realization. This was why everyone had always mistaken them for a couple. This was why that woman knew everything about him, why she had told him everything was going to change... But this, this was how Donna came back to him.

"Doctor, don't tell me that's-" Amy started.

"It is, it's her."

"But how is that...?" Rory was dumbfounded.

"I don't know," the Time Lord answered numbly.

"She looks different," Wilf said. "Is this the same process that happens to your people?"

"Yes," the Doctor answered, still stunned by what had just happened. "But... her memory of this life is gone. She won't remember a single moment of it."

"What do you mean?" Shaun demanded, jumping up and marching straight up to the Doctor. "You've done something to her, what is it?"

"She's regenerated!" He replied harshly, gesturing wildly with his arms. "She's a different person now. Different memories, different face, different body, different voice, different everything! Her memories are my memories now." This was mad. He was angry, how could he not be? For Donna Noble to die was one thing. For her to die and be replaced completely by someone who was so very not her, was... unbearable. "She won't want to stay here," he finished, looking at Shaun seriously. "I have to take her with me."

"Oh no, you aren't taking her away from me, she's my wife!" he said angrily.

"Not anymore she isn't." He paused, waiting for this statement to sink in. "She doesn't remember anything about you or her family. All the information in her head, it's too much for this little planet. She can't stay here. But I won't let anything bad happen to her, I promise," he added seriously.

"And how do you know she won't remember anything?" he demanded.

"Because I know her!" The Doctor responded, almost angrily. Angry at himself, angry at the situation. He began to pace and run his hand through his hair. "Look." He walked to Donna and snapped his fingers. Glowing yellow particles began to float around his hand. "These are nanogenes, tiny, medical robots," he explained. "This is how I knew she was remembering, but I couldn't just let them fiddle with her brain, she would have forgotten everything since the day she was born-"

"Well she did that anyway, now didn't she?"

He ignored the man and flung the golden particles away, watching them disperse. "This was the only way to keep her alive," he insisted, continuing his pacing. Nervous, angry, confused. "I know who she is, who she will be, and she's... She's dangerous."

"He's right, we all three know her," Amy interrupted, crossing her arms. "Nothing bad happens to her, I can tell you that much. But if she stays here, we can't promise you'll all be safe." Rory nodded to the man, confirming what Amy had just said.

"Take her, Doctor," Wilf said softly.

The Doctor stopped pacing and looked to Donna's grandfather. He kissed his granddaughter's forehead and stood from his kneeling position next to her. "She always wanted to travel with you. And even if she can't remember anything, at least she'll get what she wanted in the end."

"Are you serious?" Shaun was incredulous. He was trying to kidnap her!

"I can take her somewhere she'll be safe. Because she doesn't remember you anymore, Shaun. She doesn't remember Wilf either, or her mother, or your wedding, or anything like that." The Doctor cautiously approached Donna's form, unconscious on the floor. "To her, none of that ever happened. Her mind is human again, but with my base memories, as if she traveled with me for a long time as the person she is now, rather than the person she used to be. Your Donna is gone now. I'm sorry."

"Okay, fine, so what are you going to do with her then?" he demanded, a bit less harsh.

"I'm going to take her with me, where she will be safe. Her mind will be all jumbled when she wakes up, she'll need someone who understands it all to take care of her. I promise I will protect her with my life," he said, watching Shaun's face. He felt relieved when the man numbly nodded his agreement. "If something impossible ever happens and she does remember, I swear on my life I will bring her back to you."

The Doctor carried Donna somewhat awkwardly outside to the TARDIS. Shaun followed them and kissed his wife goodbye before the three time travelers finally made their way back inside the ship.

The Doctor danced around the console, hitting buttons and flipping switching with his foot, while his shoe was temporarily forgotten in a corner. The TARDIS whirred and carried them away. He was still angry, but there wasn't exactly anything that could be done about it now. The woman he was carrying had to come from somewhere, after all. Perhaps if he'd known...

But that was a two sided coin. If he had just let Donna die, then Donna, his Donna, would be buried six feet beneath dirt. Dirt, he scoffed internally. Her reward would have been darkness and earth, though she deserved so much more. He couldn't have just let her die. She didn't deserve death either; she deserved the entire universe. So that was what he would give her.

"Come on Rory!" Amy grabbed her husband's hand and dragged him up the stairs and into another room of the TARDIS.

"What, where are we going?" he demanded.

"These two need some alone time!" she answered, and their voices faded away as they disappeared into the bowels of the ship.

The woman in his arms stirred. The Doctor looked down at her to see her looking back up at him.

"Hello," she said, a bit unsure.

"Hello there," he answered with a smile.

"Where am I?"

"In my TARDIS," he answered. Her hair was tickling his arm.

"TARDIS?" She blinked, tasting the word. "Why does that word sound familiar?"

"Maybe you've been here before," he offered.

"Have I?" Her voice was soft and musical.

"Oh I think so," he said, gently putting her down on the floor. Her legs were a bit weak, but she managed to stand on her own power all the same.

She looked around the TARDIS, both amazed and interested. This place was familiar, as was this man standing next to her. So very familiar... "Who are you then?" she asked him.

"I'm the Doctor. And you are?" He wondered if she could even remember her original name. There were layers and layers of information in her head, waiting to be remembered. He was fairly certain that she would become accustomed to many things very quickly, given the information in her brain and the intelligence that she had oft proven.

"I'm..." She paused. "I don't know. I'm not sure if I even have a name. I don't remember it if I do." She held a hand to her forehead, as if it hurt a bit. It wasn't quite pain, exactly, more like a clouded mind. She shook it in an attempt to clear it.

"Well that won't do at all, now will it?" he asked, pulling the TARDIS's screen around so that she could see it too. "According to my magnificent ship, your name is-"

"River Song," she read aloud, rolling the name across her tongue. "Hm. I like it."

"Good, that's good!" The Doctor said, flipping switches here and there once more, pleased that she could read the screen without trouble. "So, River Song, fancy a TARDIS driving lesson?"

There was an old human saying that advised one to always wed their best friend if they wanted marital happiness. Perhaps they had been on to something after all.


End file.
